For Once, Then, Something
by Yuki-san loves KKM
Summary: I lived in the now, why should I worry about something that might happen time knows when? I never noticed how quickly time goes by until I was on the ship, preparing for the most important duel of my life. The duel that would be my farewell to him.


I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. It was created by Kazuki Takahashi. Yu-Gi-Oh was aired on TV Asahi. Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters was produced by Nihon Ad Systems and aired on TV Tokyo. The poem, For Once, Then, Something was written by Robert Frost.

I'm not a very good writer. I seem to be better at speaking than anything else actually. Still, I got this idea in my head and I just wanted to share it. This is not yaoi. I used the Japanese dialogue since it's more touching. That, and… I never watched the English dub so I don't know the dialogue they used.

I did not read this through, I had no beta, there are bound to be errors. If you could kindly point them out, I would be delighted.

Notes: Just in case you didn't know…

1. Aibou – partner

2. Mou hitori no boku – the other me; my other self (or whatever variation you can come up with)

3. -san – Japanese honorific that shows respect. Often used to someone older than the speaker. It's roughly equivalent to Miss so Mai-san would be Miss Mai.

4. The original version had an epilogue which was cut out of the 4Kids dub. You can watch it on

http:/www. youtube. com/watch?v=nS5bW9qpE-E

Just remove the spaces.

5. While the show means "King of Games", Yuugi's title in the Japanese version is "King of Duelists". I don't know about the English dub though.

6. There are many interpretations of the poem, this is loosely based on a simple interpretation we had during class a while ago.

Enjoy.

**For Once, Then, Something**

_Others taught me with having knelt at well-curbs_  
_Always wrong to the light, so never seeing_  
_Deeper down in the well than where the water_  
_Gives me back in a shining surface picture_  
_Me myself in the summer heaven godlike_  
_Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs._  
_Once, when trying with chin against a well-curb,_  
_I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture,_  
_Through the picture, a something white, uncertain,_  
_Something more of the depths-and then I lost it._  
_Water came to rebuke the too clear water._  
_One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple_  
_Shook whatever it was lay there at bottom,_  
_Blurred it, blotted it out. What was that whiteness?_  
_Truth? A pebble of quartz? For once, then, something._

I was content with my life. I had great friends, friends who would die for me, who I'd die for. I was friends with the girl of my dreams. I would spend countless hours at the arcade, having fun and be carefree. My only wish was granted. I was living a fairy-tale.

Then I met _him_. I got dragged into so much peril because of him. But… I was happy. He was like my genie in a lamp, my saviour, the brother I never had. Calling him a friend will never be enough. He was not my lover. Perhaps something in between.

I learned about him. He has no memories. He knew nothing, not even his name. I called him _mou hitori no boku_. He called me _aibou_. And we were content.

Man will always have questions. His came when we saw that tablet. He wanted to know who he was. Who was I to stop him? I helped him in any way that I could. We won Battle City. We gathered the god cards. We became the King of Duelists. I had more friends than ever. I could not be happier.

We became even closer, I could hear his thoughts; he could hear mine.

We fought against an enemy we knew nothing about. I realized that _mou hitori no boku_ was not infallible. A hero, yes. But even he can make mistakes. However, it was through those hardships that our bond became even stronger. I didn't think it possible but it did.

Soon, the time came for our battle against the thief king. It was a battle that he was supposed to face alone. I remembered that it was going to be our last. I… no, _we_ did all that we could to be by his side. He was our friend, my _mou hitori no boku_, how would we let him face his greatest enemy alone?

We won. His memories were restored.

Freeing his spirit, it always has been my destiny. Even so, of all the things destiny dictated me to do, this was the one I ignored the most. It was always just I passing thought. I lived in the now, why should I worry about something that might happen time knows when? I never noticed how quickly time goes by until I was on the ship, preparing for what would be, the most important duel of my life. The duel that would fulfil my destiny. The duel that would be my farewell to _him_.

We stood on opposite sides of the ring. My objective: to win our final duel and make it his best. But somewhere, deep in my heart, I wanted to lose; I did not want my fairy-tale to end.

I decided to keep my eyes on the now. Now, I needed to win, _he_ must lose.

_Silent Magician, attack the player directly!_

Somehow, I managed to win. Was it a miracle? Was it because I was a better duelist than him? I fell on my knees and cried.

_I lost, Aibou._

Him, losing. It was something I never thought I'd hear; especially not in a duel against me. He said that I should not cry. He told me that I am strong; I am not a coward; I taught him compassion; that those were things that he would never forget. I stood up.

_Mou hitori no boku…_

_I am no longer mou hitori no boku. You are Mutou Yuugi, the only one in the world._

I saw him cross the gates of the afterlife. He is with his friends and family. He is where he must be, where wants to be. And I believed that to be the end.

Destiny has a strange way of giving its message. The Millennium Items fell, the temple came crashing down and we ran out, as quickly as we could. We boarded the plane and went home. Everyone's doing their own stuff now. Haga and Ryuzaki are still up to their usual mischief. Siegfried and Leon got a deal with Pegasus. Mako's somewhere in the ocean, fulfilling his dreams. I heard that he duelled with Espa Roba a while back. According to a letter Mai-san sent us, she and Vivian tag-duelled against the Paradox Brothers on the Great Wall. As for me… well, I've come to a realization…

_This story was never about a great Pharaoh. Everyone has his own story. That is… the story that we complete in the light. And… my story has just begun._

**Author's notes:** I actually got the idea a while ago during Literature when we were discussing Robert Frost's For Once, Then, Something. Our teacher gave us a brief and simple interpretation that seemed to fit to my idea of the finale of Yu-Gi-Oh. The reflection on the water was how one perceives things; what one believes to be the truth. The thing at the bottom of the well symbolizes the things we would often ignore. The drop of water falling from a fern could be an event/s that would distort what we believe to be true. After that, we come to notice the thing we ignored.

I wanted to play on the fact that while Yuugi was aware of what might happen if Atemu got his memories back, he tend to ignore it. The topic was something that would be pointed out in the anime once, then be forgotten in the midst of chaos. It would be pointed out again and they forget it again. That would happen over and over again. Also, we can recall that he always perceived Atemu to be the strong one. He thought himself to be a weakling and a coward. Then came all the life-changing events that were shown in Yu-Gi-Oh. His growth was subtle, something that neither the cast, nor the viewers noticed unless the show pointed it out. Yuugi, himself, only noticed it during the epilogue. He realized his strength; he continued being the King of Duelist, as shown in Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

Things got out of hand though and… I don't think I managed to keep that idea after all. Oh well.

Please review.


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